Overline: IASS Discussion Paper
Headline: Monitoring the Global Hydrogen Economy

Green hydrogen is set to make an important contribution to decarbonising industry, aviation and heavy transport. An IASS Discussion Paper presents a monitoring framework to systematically compile the most important trends and developments in the global hydrogen economy. Monitoring based on this framework could help to continuously review measures taken in the context of German and European hydrogen policy.

Green hydrogen is set to make an important contribution to decarbonisation.
Green hydrogen is set to make an important contribution to decarbonisation. Shutterstock/petrmalinak

The monitoring framework is made up of eight thematic areas: Cost & Market Developments, Transport & Storage Infrastructure, Policy & Regulation, Quality Infrastructure (incl. Standardisation), Research & Innovation, Industry & Value Creation, Climate & Environment, and Governance & Social Development. The focus of the framework lies on “green” hydrogen, or climate-neutral hydrogen produced from renewable electricity.

For each thematic area, the researchers first describe the objective and central issues, then current knowledge and available data sources. Based on this, they outline a detailed monitoring framework to identify the most critical knowledge gaps and priorities for additional data collection to close them. The authors also provide an overview of existing data sources.

The framework addresses various dimensions of the hydrogen sector and its development, and pays special attention to issues of economic competitiveness and technological sovereignty in the emerging hydrogen economy. The creation of an independent evidence base is crucial for enabling an informed debate in these areas. It would offer the possibility to evaluate support policies in the context of international developments and to systematically assess the potentials, capacities and progress of domestic industry against this background.

Quitzow, R., Jahn, J., Marian, A., Blind, K., Cremonese, L., Mbungu, G. K., Neuner, F., Thielges, S., Wietschel, M. (2022): Monitoring der globalen Wasserstoffwirtschaft. Konzeptentwurf und Datenquellen. - IASS Discussion Paper, Februar 2022. https://doi.org/10.48481/iass.2022.009

(German with an executive summary in English)